BridgeIT, a mobile teaching tool deploying in Tanzania, is changing the way students and teachers interact in the classroom. The program, launched in 2007, allows teachers to download educational videos (focusing on math, science, and life skills) onto mobile phones. The phones are then connected to classroom televisions which display the videos. Students watch the videos, which usually run four to seven minutes, and then teachers use BridgeIT-designed lesson plans to build on the ideas set forth in the videos.
The short educational videos are transmitted to teachers in 150 schools in seven regions of Tanzania (Lindi, Mtwara, Pwani, Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Dodoma and Kilimanjaro). In a country in which classrooms are often overcrowded (the program originally aimed to reach 10,000 students; due to crowded classrooms and teachers teaching multiple classes through the day, BridgeIT lesson plans have so far been taught to more than 40,000 students) and the demand for books greatly exceeds the supply, lessons via video are an effective way to reach a large number of students.